Yeast copper-dependent transcription factor ACE1 enhanced copper stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.

Copper is essential but toxic in excess for aerobic organisms. Yeast transcription factor ACE1 functions as a sensor for copper and an inducer for the transcription of CUP1. In addition, ACE1 can activate the transcription of superoxide dismutase gene (sod1) in response to copper. In this study, we introduced the yeast ACE1 into Arabidopsis and analyzed its function in plant. Under high copper stress, the transgenic plants over-expressing ACE1 showed higher survival rate than the wild-type. We also found that over-expression of ACE1 in Arabidopsis increased the activities of SOD and POD, which were beneficial to the cell in copper buffering. Excess copper would suppress the expression of chlorophyll biosynthetic genes in Arabidopsis, RT-PCR analysis revealed that over-expression of ACE1 decrease the suppression. Together, our results indicate that ACE1 may play an important role in response to copper stress in Arabidopsis.